Two different studies found that certain terms that people searched in Google, or twitted about were correlated with trends in syphilis infections. For the internet searches, the study looked at 25 phrases such as “find sex” and “STD”. For Twitter, the study included the activity of 8,538 users. In both cases, a computer algorithm was able to predict with up to 90% accuracy the syphilis counts. This suggests that monitoring internet searches and social media data could help predict future syphilis outbreaks.

Material scientists have developed a material which can repel just about any known liquid. Called an 'omniphobic' material, this coating is the first that is durable, clear and long-lasting. Scientists claim that this new coating can prevent phone screens, table tops, camera lenses and just about anything from getting greasy. IT can easily repel water, alcohols, oils and even peanut butter. The material is a mixture of fluorinated polyurethane and a special fluid repellent molecule called F-POSS. Scientists believe that in the next coming years the cost of production will dramatically decrease which will help in mass adoption.

Engineers have now developed a small, injectable biosensor which can be put just below the skin surface to monitor long-term blood alcohol levels. This sensor can be powered wirelessly by wearable devices like a smartwatch. The sensor is coated with alcohol oxidase enzyme which selectively interacts with alcohol to generate a product which is then detected by the sensor. Scientists say that the ultimate goal is to develop a routine drug monitoring device especially for patients in substance abuse programs. This sensor could be n alternative to breathalyzers which normally require patient initiation and are widely inaccurate.

Twist Bioscience is one of the world's largest supplier of manufactured synthetic DNA. Storing data in DNA is a $30 billion a year industry up for grabs. Instead of storing data on magnetic tapes, it is now possible to store it in DNA, such that each bit of information is translated into genes which then can be sequenced when the data is needed for retrieval. As a data storage device, DNA has unlimited potential. They have developed methods to recover individual data files in an error-free way from a 200 MB of data stored in DNA. The company has already supplied 20 million custom coded DNA strands to Microsoft research and is now working towards developing DNA storage into a business.

Researchers have developed a computer interface which can transcribe words that are spoken internally and not actually spoken aloud. This silent speech interface device wraps around the back of the neck and then has projections which touch the face at 7 different locations. Neuromuscular signals are picked up by electrodes in the device from the face and the jaw and these signals when processed by the computer code could distinguish non-spoken words with an accuracy of 92%. Scientists are confident that they would be able to achieve full conversation someday with applications in high-noise environments like power plants and printing presses.

For years scientists have been trying to develop artificial enzymes which can fight against bacteria by use of external triggers. Now, researchers have developed a new artificial enzyme which uses light to kill bacteria. Made of extremely small nanorods which are 1000 times thinner than the human hair, these 'NanoZymes' create highly reactive oxygen species using light and moisture which then can rapidly kill the bacteria. This enzyme can be made in a solution to mimic fluids in a wound or as powers to mix with paint, ceramics and other products. This has numerous applications like making surfaces bacteria free like public toilets and control infections in public hospitals.

Mobile apps which are designed to keep children safe from online predators are actually counterproductive since they hamper the trust between the child and the parent. It also reduces the ability of the child to respond to online threats. Researchers found children who had authoritarian parents experienced higher online risks like harassment, sexual solicitation and explicit content. Researchers state that children would rather want their parents to talk to them rather than use these apps. This could form the basis of designing apps meant to keep our children safe online.

A few years ago, the California startup ZIPLINE created a national drone delivery system to ship drugs and blood to remote regions of Rwanda. Now, the same startup has launched the world's fastest commercial delivery drone which has a top speed of 128 km/hr. The USA is set to pass a bill which would allow a private drone to operate at heights at which people on earth cannot see them. ZIPLINE has plenty of experience in this scenario in Rwanda and Rinaudo. They have also developed a streamlined launch and recovery system so that now ZIPLINE can manage about 500 flights in a single day from one centre. Way for future delivery systems....

Researchers have developed hydrogels which can be injected at the site of penetrating injuries. These hydrogels then achieve hemostasis by promoting the natural cascade of blood clotting. Researchers used a common thickening agent known as the kappa-carrageenan which is usually obtained from seaweeds. This kappa-carrageenan was then mixed with clay-based nanoparticles resulting in the development of injectable gelatin. The negatively charged nanoparticles also enabled interactions with therapeutic agents which then are slowly released into the wound. This also helps in the healing process in addition to homeostasis.

Plastic is an excellent insulator and it has been used to efficiently trap heat, for eg a coffee cup. However, the same property is a problem with plastic casings for laptops and mobiles which leads to overheating. However, MIT researchers have now developed a plastic material which is a thermal conductor, which means it dissipates heat. While traditional plastics are made of long-chain fibres which are intertwined like a spaghetti ball, the new plastics developed consist of stretched chains which enables the heat to skip easily. These new plastics result in heat conduction about 300 times as compared to older plastics. This could help develop plastics for advanced applications like self-cooling alternatives to existing electronic casings.

Inspired by light reflection by squid skin, researchers have invented a material that can quickly change the way it reflects heat, smoothing or wrinkling its surface in under a second after being stretched or electrically stimulated. This makes it invisible to infrared night vision devices. This invention can be applied for better camouflage for troops, or for insulation for spacecraft, storage containers, clinical care, and building heating and cooling systems.

Researchers have developed ultrathin sheets of self-assembling polymers called peptoids which can be coated with different sugars. These nanosheets effectively mimic cell surfaces functioning as a trap. The sugars selectively bind to different proteins including Shiga toxin, which causes dysentery. Depending on which sugars are used to coat these nanosheets, different pathogens can be attracted to the surface. The applications are numerous, environmental cleanups to clear specific pathogens and toxins or targetting pathogens like Ebola or E.coli. Or we could develop nasal sprays containing these pathogen trapping nanosheets to prevent respiratory infections.

Scientists are very optimistic that in the next 10 years we could affordably capture CO2 from power plants and other emissions and convert it into useful molecules. The technology is still in its infancy but could be used to convert CO2 to hydrogen, methane and ethane as biofuels, ethylene and alcohol as consumer goods and formic acid in the pharmaceutical industry or as fuel in fuel cells. While currently, the electricity required to do so is very high making it very expensive, rapid strides could be made since renewable energy sources will become more available.

Engineers from HongKong and China have developed a special liquid crystal display (LCD) which is flexible, light and paper thin. Like traditional LCDs, this screen is designed to have liquid crystal between two plates. However, unlike traditional LCDs, which uses electric connections to switch individual pixels from light to dark, this new LCS uses special molecules which realign on exposure to polarized light and change the colour of the pixels. Normally spacers are used in all LCDs to determine the liquid crystal thickness, which on an impact or bending moves the liquid away leaving a section of screen blank. However, this new LCD has a mesh-like spacer which prevents the liquid crystal to move away on impact. This could lead to rewritable LCDs in the future.

A team of engineers announced successfully building a device only a few millimeters wide, fully transparent, with interesting properties. It can emit light, it is flexible and it is a semiconductor. When not used, it becomes completely transparent. Thus, it works as a display that is invisible when not in use, with applications going as far as light-emitting tattoos and smart screens. The device is a proof-of-concept, but further research is still needed in order to make it available for practical applications.

Plant leaves are regularly subjected to fluctuations between sunshine and shade. Researchers have now developed a system and material which generates electricity by harnessing the changes in heating between shade and sunlight. They have developed gold nanodiscs which then convert the generated heat into electricity. Such systems could be employed so that they cover large surface areas of leaves and then harness electricity by the fluctuations in the light intensity induced by blowing winds.

Researchers from EPFL and Nissan announced the development of a brain-machine interface that can read the brain signals of a driver. The signals can be sent to a smart car which will anticipate the driver’s intentions. This technology is called brain-to vehicle (B2V) and is intended to facilitate driving. The researchers claim that the vehicle can learn from the driver’s brain signals, in order to personalize the feedback and to accurately anticipate the reactions. B2V is the first technology of its kind and it may be one of the future directions in the development of smart cars.

Lithuanian scientists have developed a system that clears oil products effectively from water making it literally pollution free. Several countries allow oil in discharge water to be less than 5mg/L to be released into the water environment. Although the marine life could survive this, these oil products pass into the organisms which then affects the ecosystem in total. However, the new Wastewater cleaning technology employs microorganisms which can digest these oil products into CO2 and water. This system is ready to be used in situations like the treatment of oil production and refinery wastewater, car wash oil, polluted petroleums etc.

Researchers have developed a device which could extract potable water from the air even when the humidity is less than 10%. The system which was first described last year is based on a new high-surface area material termed the metal-organic framework (MOF). Current methods such as fog-harvesting method or dew harvesting method require more than 50% humidity and also a large amount of energy. However, the device based on MOF is powered by solar energy which is a step forward from the old techniques. Still in a nascent stage, but this proof of concept technology could be our answer for future water woes.

Researchers have found that drugs like cocaine and heroin are so common in the environment that it is present on the fingertips of 13% of the population even if they have never used the drug. However, this doesn't mean that true drug users will get any respite since these researchers have developed a cut-off level to confidently distinguish them from people who have drugs on their skin as secondary contaminants. Thus, fingerprint testing is a quick way to identify drug users and is certainly the future.

Scientists have taken a cue from leaf structure to fabricate materials which can separate oil and water which could help in easier oil spill cleanups. They have successfully mimicked the biological phenomenon called the 'Salvinia effect', observed in floating plant in South America called Salvinia molesta. The plant's surface is hydrophobic which helps it to maintain a layer of air around itself. Scientists have created a 3D printed version made of carbon nanotubes which could make it both hydrophobic and also oil-absorbing which when combined can separate water from oil.

Identifying the earliest signs of Alzheimer's before any obvious symptoms would be extremely useful for patients for testing new drugs or allowing family members to plan for care. Researchers at MIT have developed an AI-powered device which could pick up these subtle signs. Initially designed as a fall detector, researchers started using this long-term device to identify movements like pacing and wandering which can be signs of Alzheimer's. Using wireless radio signals the device can identify the smallest possible motions which then is processed by machine learning algorithms to predict the disease with 84% accuracy.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a tool used on a daily basis in medicine and research. However, the resolution of the images obtained is not very high and because of this, structures in the body smaller than half a millimeter cannot be distinguished. Now, a team of scientists introduced a new method that increases the resolution of MRI images, allowing structures as small of a few micrometers to be visualized. The technique uses nitrogen-vacancy diamond magnetometry and will allow for better diagnosis based on MRI imaging.

By using a special heteropolymer, scientists have succeeded to preserve protein function outside the cells in which they normally occur. Proteins do not fold properly once they are out of their natural environment, but when combined with the heteropolymer, many features of protein function are maintained. The combined use of the heteropolymers and proteins in a single mat-like structure made it possible to create a surfactant that binds and degrades an insecticide. This approach can be further advanced to neutralise other toxic chemicals as well in the future.

The Vatican archives spread around 85 kilometers (53 miles) of shelving and they are so big that their content is not entirely known. To help with transcribing the documents, scientists developed an artificial intelligence system capable of automatically transcribing old texts. Currently, the system is being tested on more than 18,000 pages of correspondence from the 13th century, never transcribed before. So far, the results have been positive. The system was able to transcribe correctly 65% of the content. The researchers are now working on improving the accuracy of the system.

ScienceBriefss delivers the latest science news stories in a concise, yet informative way. Here you will find top science news articles delivered as short articles or summaries. We give you daily, interesting science news and the latest science discoveries, all backed-up by real research studies. Keep up with the latest scientific news and research in a fast, clear and efficient way!